{"id":6014,"date":"2019-02-28T10:06:14","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T15:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2019-03-04T10:08:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T15:08:14","slug":"for-over-two-decades-the-celtic-tenors-have-schooled-audiences-in-the-celtic-songbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=6014","title":{"rendered":"For Over Two Decades, The Celtic Tenors Have Schooled Audiences In The Celtic Songbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Brad Balfour<\/em><\/p>\n

If anyone possesses the voice of authority when it comes to the Irish songbook, it\u2019s the Celtic Tenors \u2014 classically trained and schooled by 20 years under fire touring, recording and teaching. Now consisting of Nelson, Matthew Gilsenan, and Daryl Simpson, the group brings its talent and knowledge to The Theatre at Westbury on March 7th, 2019, showcasing \u201cThe Celtic Tenors Present: The Irish Songbook.\u201d In order to increase awareness, Nelson got on the phone to elaborate on how these guy overcome the tenor cliche and become masters of the voice.<\/p>\n

He explained his origins in Operatic training in Ireland.\u201d At the time we were training, Ireland only had a population of about three and a half million and now it\u2019s about five million. We had the Irish National Opera Company and Opera Ireland but it died; still, there are opportunities for us. All the music colleges would have opera courses. But a lot of people go away to London, Manchester, Germany or Italy to study opera. I went to London and studied before I embarked on my pre-Irish Tenors operatic career.<\/p>\n

As for the opera audience in Ireland\u2026 \u201cThere\u2019s very much an audience for opera in Ireland for years because a contemporary of Enrico Caruso was John McCormack who traveled in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He sang at the opera in Melbourne, and the Met in New York and in London\u2019sCovent Garden. Mozart\u2019s favorite tenor was a guy named Michael Kelly who sang in some of his original productions in Austria. <\/p>\n

\u201cOpera\u2019s big in Ireland, even with only a limited population. There have been Irish singers since the 1700s and we have a famous festival called The Wexford Opera Festival near where I live. It happens every September and they put on three operas that are usually never performed and one\u2019s always a hit. And there\u2019s always Irish singers at the Met.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having grown up in Sligo, and now a resident in Baltinglass, West Wicklow, Nelson got himself extensive schooling and experience from all over. He\u2019s performed more than 50 roles in opera and operetta include Tichon (Katya) for Opera Theatre Company in Portugal, Josef (Wiener Blut) and Cecco (Il Mondo della Luna) also for OTC, Basilio (Figaro) for the Scottish Opera under the baton of Raymond Leppard, Pinkerton (Butterfly) at Hever Castle in Kent, Snout\/Wall (Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream) for Singapore Lyric Opera, Cavaradossi (Tosca) and Calaf (Turandot) for Opera in the Open, Lensky (Onegin) in Russia, Alfredo (Traviata) at Como in Italy, and roles for Opera Ireland, Opera Liceu, New Israeli Opera, and the Wexford and Buxton Festivals. So he, like his mates, is well-schooled and experienced.<\/p>\n

Launched as the Three Irish Tenors in October,1995, James Nelson, Niall Morris and Paul Hennessey started out by performing for RT\u00c9’s Theatre Nights. Dubbed the best classical crossover act to come out of Ireland, The Tenors continued to build international audiences singing a mix of Celtic, operatic and re-worked popular songs. They officially became The Celtic Tenors when Matthew “Gilly” Gilsenan (from co. Meath) replaced Henessey in 2000 and they signed to EMI. Traveling extensively they pursued many tours in Australia, The USA, Canada, Germany, China and the Netherlands. The group has performed with some of the world’s leading orchestras including The Toronto Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, and the Vancouver Symphony orchestra. As well as performing for president Bill Clinton in the White House.<\/p>\n

In June 2006, Niall Morris left and Daryl Simpson BEM (from Omagh in Northern Ireland), came on board; since Simpson was the founder and director of The Omagh Community youth choir, it was featured on the songs “Better” and “Westering Home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tenors have released seven records with Decca, EMI, Telarc and the Dara labels. Their first album, “The Celtic Tenors” (released in 2000) went on to achieve double platinum status in their homeland, No.1 in Ireland and Germany, Number 2 in the UK, and won them the “Echo Award” for “Best Classical Crossover Act” in Germany. Over the next 10 years, they released “So Strong” and 2002\u2019s \u201cThe Irish Album,\u201d including their single which became the Irish national anthem, \u201cIreland\u2019s call.\u201d Then came \u201cWe Are Not Islands,\u201d 2005\u2019s \u201cRemember Me” and 2009\u2019s \u201cHard Times;\u201d \u201dFeels Like Home” then was released in September 2011. <\/p>\n

As for the Tenors\u2019 recent album, Explained Nelson, \u201cWe just recorded this new album as part of our 20 year career. It\u2019s only the second all Irish album we\u2019ve done. We do an eclectic show, meshing the Opera world in a production of Strauss\u2019 \u2018Die Fledermaus.\u2019 We sing some spiritual music and obviously Celtic, Irish, and Scottish music as well. This is all irish album is a little bit mad for an Irish act touring the world. We\u2019re going to Australia after America and the Australians have asked for an all Irish album, so we obliged them with an Irish songbook and a Celtic tenor [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Celtic part, Nelson added, not everyone in the group speaks Gaelic. \u201cThey don\u2019t teach it in school in Northern Ireland, but in the Republic, from the age of four right up until 16, we take lessons in Irish and English. There\u2019s Irish and Gaelic TV channels, radio channels, and the signs are bilingual. It\u2019s confusing for some but we\u2019re proud of it. Technically, it\u2019s a dying language so we\u2019re trying to keep it alive. We sing at least one song in Gaelic every show. People don\u2019t realize Ireland has two languages. It\u2019s good to learn two languages at a very young age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Was there ever a fear that being called Celtic would overshadow the Tenor part? \u201cWe often thought it\u2019d be better if we were called Bananarama or something. Sometimes people see the name \u2018Celtic Tenors\u2019 and think, \u2018I don\u2019t like opera\u2019 or see the word Celtic and think \u2018I don\u2019t like all that Irish music,\u2019 but it belies what we actually do in the show. People see us sing operatic pieces but there\u2019s also Simon and Garfunkel’s \u2018The Boxer\u2019 and John Denver\u2019s \u2018Calypso\u2019 as well as \u2018Danny Boy\u2019 and \u2018Whiskey in the Jar.\u2019
\n\u201cThere\u2019s such a huge mix. We have three very different solo voices. Daryl went to Queen\u2019s University. I went to the College of Dublin as did Matthew. Matthew\u2019s early training was much more folky. He then delved into Opera. Daryl was like me, into classical opera and became a tenor and went to Switzerland and trained at the Zurich Opera House. He\u2019s a light tenor singer who can do Rossini and Mozart. The roles I did at the end of my operatic career were like Puccini and Verdi, quite physically heavy tenor. Matthew is somewhere in between, high and light but can do heavier stuff too. So there are three different solo voices but in harmony, we sound like one voice. In \u2018Danny Boy,\u2019 we sing solo lines and then hopefully it comes together as one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the singing, James also wrote a column for the \u201cSligo Weekender\u201d \u2013 \u201cNelson\u2019s Column\u201d\u2014 for 13 years. He\u2019s also been part of an ongoing building project in Kenya, helping AIDS orphans get a second chance, upgrading their accommodation and education facilities, as well as teaching music and performing in concerts with the kids. <\/p>\n

As for their benchmark tenor songs, Nelson listed several. \u201cBecause of the 1990 World Cup, there\u2019s \u2018Nessun Dorma,\u2019 though we don\u2019t always do that. And there\u2019s \u2018Time to Say Goodbye\u2019 by Andrea Bocelli. And we do \u2018Danny Boy\u2019 because John McCormack would sing that every single show. We do a three-part a capella version of that. We do \u2018La donna \u00e8 mobile\u2019 from \u2018Rigoletto\u2019 as well. Aside from that we try to vary up the program quite a bit. Those would be the most obvious. We mix in an Irish drinking song and Gaelic. Around St. Patrick\u2019s Day it\u2019ll be more heavy in the Irish. There\u2019s one or two songs we do with guitars as well.<\/p>\n

As for the songs\u2019 arrangement. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly us with our musical director. We write our own harmonies and I\u2019ve done the template for all our vocal arrangements. We know our own voices. I know Daryl can\u2019t sing a B flat. Matthew and I are more flexible because we have some baritone in our voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re tenors, we have no brains, supposedly.People are terribly rude about tenors. But in The Celtic Tenors there couldn\u2019t be egos when we\u2019re traveling together in the US and Australia and China, you can\u2019t have divas. Pavarotti was an amazing voice with a legacy that will go on, but a lot of people will say he just stood there. Whereas Domingo was an incredible actor. You can tell Pavarotti is intelligent but there are jokes about tenors just standing there and opening their mouths and just caring about their voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago we did a show about the great tenors with Caruso and McCormack. Then moved into Pavarotti and crossover tenors like Bocelli, and then the pop tenors like Roy Orbison, John Denver, Freddie Mercury, even Elton John has a very high pitch male voice. It was a lovely show. Tenors aren\u2019t just in the opera world \u2014 they\u2019re everywhere\u2026 And then there\u2019s The Celtic Tenors.\u201d <\/p>\n

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